SFPQ's 27,000 office workers ratify agreement in principle with Quebec

The logo of the Syndicat de la fonction publique et parapublique du Québec is seen in Montreal on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. LA PRESSE CANADIENNE/Paul Chiasson

Some 27,000 office workers have ratified the agreement in principle they reached with the Quebec government.

Members of the Fonctionnaires accreditation of the Syndicat de la fonction publique et parapublique du Québec (SFPQ) voted 91 per cent in favour of their new collective agreement.

"The high approval rate clearly reflects the members' satisfaction with this agreement. Negotiations took a long time, more than 18 months, but what matters today is the result obtained for our members," said Christian Daigle, General President of the SFPQ.

‘The new collective agreement will enable us to continue catching up with other public administrations and to achieve significant gains.

Members of the civil servants bargaining unit will be entitled to salary increases of 17.4 per cent at the end of the five-year agreement. Some of them will also receive substantial bonuses and other "monetary or normative gains, linked to working conditions," the union's press release stated.

"This agreement provides for significant improvements in terms of wages, insurance, days off and telework rights," said Karine Dextras-Paquette, SFPQ General Secretary and political officer in charge of negotiations.

"It was thanks to the determination of our members and the hard work of the negotiating team that it was possible to get the government to admit that staff in government departments and agencies also deserved an improved offer."

The Public Servants collective agreement expired on April l, 2023.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Aug. 27, 2024.